"Terry & The BP Pirates" Dig 10 Times Deeper Than Oil Giant In Gulf Of Twitterville

Impostors are infamous in the Twittersphere - from celebrities to politicians - to even the Dalai Lama. And while most of us find nothing funny about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, America's not-so-favorite oil company is being impersonated by a Twitter account that obviously feels that parody and satire are necessary tools in continually exposing the source of this disaster … namely, BP America.

Since May 19, an impostor BP Twitter account, going by the handle @BPGlobalPR has played havoc in a series critwiques (Twitter critiques) that have lambasted the oil giant unmercifully. In less than one week, it has attracted over 71,000 followers, just about ten times greater than the legitimate account.

It commenced with it's first post, "We regretfully admit that something has happened off of the Gulf Coast. More to Come."

Since then, the site has garnered an excessive amount of attention and retweeting activity. Even filmmaker Michael Moore and songstress Michelle Branch have reposted the site’s blurbs, according to the NY Daily News.

While tradition in the past has warranted impostors be removed from the microblogging platform, BP has not taken any steps to make this happen. In an AdAge report, Toby Odone, a spokesman at BP, told Ad Age: "I'm not aware of whether BP has made any calls to have it taken down or addressed. People are entitled to their views on what we're doing and we have to live with those. We are doing the best we can to deal with the current situation and to try to stop the oil from flowing and to then clean it up."

While the bulk of the @BPGlobalPR feed's content is clearly humorous, according to Twitter's official rules, it's closer to impersonation than it is parody. The feed doesn't explicitly state anywhere that it's a fake, identifying itself as "BP Public Relations," listing its location as "Global" and, under bio: "This page exists to get BP's message and mission statement out into the twitterverse!"

According to the Register in the UK, it was reported that whoever is updating the account continually reference an overweight character by the name of "Terry." In a recent tweet, this individual was described as such: "Terry is now in charge of operation Top Kill, work will recommence after we find a XXL wetsuit. #bpcares #oilspill."

On May 28 (just an hour before this posting), in calling more attention to "Terry" and a desire for the those behind the account to voice their opinions before even a wider audience, the impostors are willing to hold back on their tirades if CNN's Dick Sanchez will consent to interviewing "Terry" on the air.

Now, the story is getting intriguing. For all those who would like to see "Terry & the BP Pirates" go live on TV to talk about their adventure in Twitterville and their reasons for taking this satirical approach, please retweet the message (above) to Dick Sanchez. I'm sure if the newscaster receives enough RTs, he may concede in conducting this interview, as it would be a feather in his cap to be the first to expose "Terry and the BP Pirates before a live TV audience. (Note: All you have to do, if you have a Twitter account, is click
the "Dick Sanchez" tweet above which will direct you to the "impostor"
account, where you can RT any of @BPGlobalPR tweets!)

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